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The number claiming Jobseekers' Allowance - the 'claimant count' - has also fallen, by 12,000 to 1.56million in December.

MACDONALD ARMY: FAST-FOOD CHAIN'S UK WORKFORCE NEARS 100,000

McDonald's is to create at least 2,500 new jobs this year, taking its UK workforce to 93,500, the firm announced today.

The move follows 3,500 new jobs that McDonald's created last year, of which 70 per cent were taken by young people under the age of 21.

McDonald's has added more than 20,000 people to its workforce during the last five years.

The company said its growth has been driven by investment in its restaurants and technology and extended opening hours and menu choice.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: 'A highly-skilled workforce is an important part of any growing business. McDonald's is also to be applauded for helping adult employees get qualifications in maths and English.'

The jobs numbers have been a rare bright spot among the economic data for the past year. Today's was the 10th consecutive monthly fall in unemployment despite near-zero growth in the economy. Economists are predicting a fall in fourth quarter GDP when growth figures are published on Friday.

George Buckley from Deutsche Bank said: 'The jobs data is going to perpetuate this question of the productivity puzzle because the numbers are exceptionally strong.

The anomaly is partly explained by the fact that UK workers have been forced to take part-time work instead of full-time roles in order to get by.

Between the start of the credit crunch in September 2007 and now, the number of people in full-time employment fell by 341,000, while the number of people in part-time employment increased by 660,000.

However, there are signs that this trend is easing. The number of people in full-time employment increased by 113,000 in the three months to December, compared to the preceding three months, while the the number of people in part-time employment fell by 23,000.

Quarterly changes in unemployment and the claimant count (aged 18 to 64).

Also keeping the headline unemployment figure lower has been below average pay rises, which have eased the burden on companies that otherwise would have made employees redundant.

The ONS said wages were just 1.5 per cent higher than a year previously. This compares to an inflation rate of 2.7.

Rob Carnell, economist at ING, said: 'In spite of some high profile retail failures in recent months, and large-scale job losses in the automotive sector, the UK added a surprisingly large 90,000 jobs in the three months to November.

'Despite, or perhaps helping to deliver the better employment data, wages growth was even more subdued, with average weekly earnings rising at only a 1.5 percent rate down from the previous rate of 1.8 percent.'

Elsewhere in the data, there was a 26,000 increase in the number of women out of work for up to six months, to reach 571,000, which may reflect changes to the benefits system resulting in more single mothers looking for work.

The number of job vacancies in the economy increased by 10,000 to almost half a million at the end of last year, the highest number for four years.

The number of self-employed workers increased by 7,000 to 4.2million, while unpaid family workers fell by 1,000 to 111,000.

Long-term unemployment has also fallen, down by 10,000 for those out of work for more than two years, to 434,000, and by 5,000 for people unemployed for at least a year, to 892,000.

But the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work increased by 1,000 to 957,000, the first rise since last summer, although youth employment showed an increase of 12,000 as more students sought work.